It was a lot closer, anyway. That's about the best thing we can take from the Sox' 7-4 loss in Toronto that ended the worldwide road trip and sent the boys home 3-4 and in the AL East cellar.

The big difference was that Toronto ace Roy Halladay pitched like an ace for the most part, while Sox ace Josh Beckett pitched like a rusty, easily-tired version of himself. He hung in for a while, but left with the bases loaded in the fifth. Enter Manny Delcarmen, enter Frank Thomas, exit baseball, stage center. The Big Hurt's grand slam hurt...well, big...and the Sox never really threatened to come back.

The Sox did get a little pop, on three solo home runs (Ellsbury, Varitek, Drew). If they could only get guys on base, we might have something here. On the flip side of the coin, the personal hell of Julio Lugo continues, as he went 0-4, made three errors, and flew out weakly to end the game with the hint of a 9th-inning threat vaguely looming.

Now it's finally time for the boys to come home, to collect their 2007 World Series rings, do a load of laundry, and meet the only team in the AL more astonishingly inept: the 0-6 Tigers. "How do you beat getting a ring and clean underwear?" asks Terry Francona. That's the spirit, Tito. That's the spirit. If you want to throw Lugo in on the spin cycle, too, it may not hurt.

The Bruins' Quest for the Stanley Cup (temporarily renamed the Quest to Figure Out Montreal At Least Once) begins Thursday in Montreal. Kevin Paul Dupont reviews the season, while there's a series preview at ESPN, and signs that Montreal may be overlooking the B's.

The NCAA Finals are tonight, Kansas vs. Memphis, then it's back to classes for the kids tomorrow morning.